Author : Khaled Hosseini
Publisher : Riverhead Books
Amir is the son of a wealthy Kabul merchant, a member of the ruling caste of Pashums. Hassan, his servant and constant companion, is a Hazara, a despised and impoverished caste. Their uncommon bond is torn by Amir's choice to abandon his friend amidst the increasing ethnic, religious, and political tensions of the dying years of the Afghan monarchy, wrenching them far apart. But so strong is the bond between the two boys that Amir journeys back to a distant world, to try to right past wrongs against the only true friend he ever had.The unforgettable, heartbreaking story of the unlikely friendship between a wealthy boy and the son of his father’s servant, The Kite Runner is a beautifully crafted novel set in a country that is in the process of being destroyed. It is about the power of reading, the price of betrayal, and the possibility of redemption; and an exploration of the power of fathers over sons—their love, their sacrifices, their lies.A sweeping story of family, love, and friendship told against the devastating backdrop of the history of Afghanistan over the last thirty years, The Kite Runner is an unusual and powerful novel that has become a beloved, one-of-a-kind classic.
Hands down The Kite Runner by far is the best book I’ve read in 2014. It’s difficult for me to write this review. No, correction; it’s difficult for me not to cry while writing this review because of the feels. Man, The Kite Runner leaves deep impression on me and I’m really, really glad that I finally picked up this book. I hesitated a bit to start reading this book because I was in the middle of mid exams in college. Well, this book proves that it didn’t matter because it was so gripping. I couldn’t stop thinking about it and this book makes want to read more (don’t worry about my exams cause I did well, thankfully).
The Kite Runner is about a boy named Amir, who lived in Afghanistan with his father, his father’s servant, and the servant’s son, Hassan. Amir and Hassan spent a lot of time together reading or playing kites. Then something bad happened and things kind of going down for both of them. Years later (or months later I don’t really remember), Amir’s hometown (or we could say the whole Afghanistan) was invaded by Russia. Since his home isn’t really a home anymore for him and his family, Amir and his father went to America to start a new life. When Amir finally settles down with the American culture and things start looking up to him, he got a phone call from Afghanistan telling him that there’s a way for him to fix things. This book is mainly about moral redemption and father-son relationship.
The Kite Runner is basically divided into two parts. The first part is Amir’s childhood and the second part is Amir’s life after moving to America. But in my mind, this book has a separate line in the chapter where a traumatic thing happened. That makes me see the book as part before the traumatic thing happened and part after the traumatic thing happened. The Kite Runner lets us peek a bit at the Afghanistan culture. Also, since the book starts in the 70s up until the Taliban rules Afghanistan, we get to see how cruel life can be for people in Afghanistan.
Amir, our antihero in the book, is not my favorite character from the book. He sees his father as his hero who never does wrong. He has father issue which makes him do anything to get recognition from his father. This father issue is a central point in this book because most problems in this book revolve around it. As for Hassan, he’s the character that I root for. I feel for him so bad and I just want him to be happy. But this book is so depressing. Even when everything starts to look well, suddenly there’s an event that turns it into bad. This book is so sad, intense, dark, and crazy. I got dizzy of crying because of this book.
All in all, The Kite Runner is a book that I really recommend to read. This book is beautifully written. Hosseini often describes everything in detail which is helpful because obviously I don’t know how living in Afghanistan could be. I think he did an amazing job with this book and I’m definitely going to check out his other books as well.
There is only one sin, only one. And that is theft. Every other sin is variation of theft.
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